High school baseball: Grand slam powers Verona past Craig

The Verona right fielder hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning to lift the Wildcats to a 7-4 win over the Cougars.

Craig (7-3, 4-3) led 4-0 in the second but did not score the rest of the game as Verona’s Keaton Knueppel kept the Cougars at bay. Knueppel allowed only one earned run and struck out six to notch the win. John Moynihan came on to get the last out in earning the save.

The Cougars suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season after Friday’s 3-2 loss to Janesvile Parker in 10 innings.

“We came out swinging the bats well and got a nice early lead,” Craig coach Vic Herbst said. “But then with one swing of the bat, the whole game changed. Reinholtz got the ball in the air and it carried out of the park.

“And Knueppel really kept us off balance after the first couple of innings. He really settled down.”

Craig got three runs in the first on Justin Graham’s RBI single and two Verona errors. The Cougars made it 4-0 in the second on Wyatt Olson’s RBI double.

Chase Nyborg suffered the loss in relief despite striking out seven in four innings.

Craig hosts Stoughton at 4:30 p.m. Monday in a nonconference game at Riverside Park.